TODAY an amazing transit of Mercury in front of the Sun – an ‘inferior conjunction’ with our day star, which only occurs 13 times in a century, & only during a loop when Mercury is retrograde. Mercury, which is usually hidden behind the Sun, is then visible, between the Earth & the Sun.

Also, Jupiter, having been in retrograde since January 7th goes direct.

Jupiter seal by Rudolf Steiner

1760 – Death-day of Count Zinzendorf , A social reformer & bishop of the Moravian Church. The Zinzendorf family belonged to one of the most ancient of noble families in Lower Austria. Among his ancestors was the Emperor Maximillian I.

Zinzendorf did not intend to found a religious organization distinct from the area’s Lutheran Church, but to create a Christian association, by demonstrating practical benevolence, that might awaken dull Lutheranism. He began to think that true Christianity could be best promoted by free associations of Christians, which in the course of time might grow into churches with no state connection.

In 1722, Zinzendorf offered asylum to a number of refugees from Moravia & Bohemia & built the village of Herrnhut on a corner of his estate.

Out of study & prayer, the community formed a document known as the Brüderlicher Vertrag, the ‘Brotherly Agreement’, today known as “The Moravian Covenant for Christian Living.” The Moravian Church is one of the few denominations that emphasizes a code of Christian behavior over specific creeds.

In these communities, a radical equality of spiritual life was practiced. Nobility & Native Americans shared common quarters; slaves were full members of the Church & could be elected to offices of leadership.

Zinzendorf’s interest in missionary work was sparked by meeting two Inuit children.

In 1736, accusations from neighboring nobles & questions of theological orthodoxy caused Zinzendorf to be exiled from his home in Saxony. He & a number of his followers moved to Marienborn (near Büdingen) & began a period of exile & travel, during which he became known as the “Pilgrim Count.”

In 1741, Zinzendorf visited Pennsylvania, becoming one of the few 18th century European nobles to have actually set foot in the Americas. In addition to visiting leaders such as Benjamin Franklin, he met with the leaders of the Iroquois.

Zinzendorf’s theology strongly included the emotional life of the believer as well as the intellectual. He criticized the coldly intellectual approach common in his day, & built a great deal of practice around the transformation of the emotions. He referred to this as the “religion of the heart.”

1805 – Death-day of Friedrich Schiller, some say he was poisoned (GA 64) The coffin containing what was purportedly Schiller’s skeleton, was brought in 1827, into the Weimarer Fürstengruft (Weimar’s Ducal Vault), later also Goethe’s resting place. On 3 May 2008, scientists announced that DNA tests showed that the skull of this skeleton is not Schiller’s, & his tomb is now vacant.

Friedrich Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, physician, historian, & playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with the already famous & influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. They frequently discussed issues concerning human freedom. Schiller encouraged Goethe to finish works he left as sketches. This relationship & these discussions led to a period now referred to as Weimar Classicism. They also worked together on Xenien, a collection of short satirical poems in which both Schiller & Goethe challenge opponents to their philosophical vision.

Schiller wrote many philosophical papers on ethics & aesthetics. He synthesized the thought of Immanuel Kant with the thought of the German Idealist philosopher, Karl Leonhard Reinhold. He elaborated Christoph Martin Wieland’s concept of die schöne Seele (the beautiful soul), a human being whose emotions have been educated by reason, so that Pflicht und Neigung (duty & inclination) are no longer in conflict with one another. Beauty, for Schiller, is not merely an aesthetic experience, but a moral one as well: the Good is the Beautiful.

His philosophical work was particularly concerned with the question of human freedom, a preoccupation which also guided his historical researches, & found its way as well into his dramas. Schiller wrote important essays on the question of the sublime, addressing one aspect of human freedom—the ability to defy one’s animal instincts, such as the drive for self-preservation, when, for example, someone willingly sacrifices themselves for conceptual ideals.

~ ~ ~

Pikishi

~Today I am

The thought of myself

In my Mothers forehead…

May I listen to the voice of the messenger

Bringing her song up from the dead –

A silver star bruised & hanging on a cloud

As I roll gold into life

Like the scarab

& stand with the flowering hawthorn on the obsidian altar…

~hag

~ ~ ~

St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite

Part 1 in a series from the lecture: Vitae Sophia- The New Mysteries of ‘I’ and ‘WE’, a ‘Hero’s Journey’ from head to heart by Hazel Archer Ginsberg

As we move deeper into the glories of Spring, the elementals awaken & we experience in nature, signs & images of the Earth-soul in ascension.

The sense of arising spreads all around us. And in the play of the elements, fire seems to have the last word in the essential dialogue between the heights & depths. From above resounds the fiery word & the other elements follow the creative call with joy & the beauty of ascent.

Whitsun has been called a festival of flowers. We see this out among the buds opening under the increasing power of the sun, under the etheric & astral influences. The heart of humanity as it opens to warmth & light is like the flower, aligning itself to the sun which permeates the earth. And what pours down from the sun, giving the flower, our image in reverse, the potency it needs, is like the tongues of fire descending upon the heads of the disciples, for us humans.

Rudolf Steiner lectured a great deal about Whitsun. He spoke about Spiritual Science as a Whitsun gift.

Today we can see Whitsun as a festival of the 1st fruits of the Spirit. The festival of today is not bestowed on us by nature. It must be called forth…

Some say it is a festival of the future, for we must grow ripe to withstand the surging of the Spirit. Whitsun is the festival of our true higher self, which as yet only hovers above us like a dove.

At the same time it is the festival of community, arising from the harmonizing of our higher selves which are ONE in the Spirit – The Cosmic Spirit of all pervading Love, Healing Spirit, Spirit of Wisdom, The Comforter, Councilor, Paraclete, Sophia, The Spirit of Truth.

“You shall know the truth & the Truth shall make you free.”

Christ fulfilled His Deed for all mankind. And, to each human individual, in order that we may be able to understand this Deed, Christ sends the Healing Spirit, Fulfilling his promise that each person may have access to the effects of the Deed, which was accomplished for all.

Whitsun presents us with a remarkable & dramatic picture of spirit-filled individuals, anointed & en-kindled with the impulse to speak out of individual freedom regarding the truth & healing power of the Spirit…Speaking the Language of the heart, that all can understand.

The intense rush of spirit planted in the hearts of human beings highlights one of the greatest challenges of being human: placing our individual gifts, our individual ego, in right relationship within the social realm. This challenge is strongly felt during this time of the consciousness soul era.

Our groups striving to know Spiritual Science, working together as a community, have the possibility to create this type of culture, & the opportunity is here for each of us to meet, human to human, where a sacrament is possible in every encounter.

Our individual strength comes from our personal development & is enhanced by weaving our gifts together with others, knitting our social world in conscious community.

During the Christmas Conference the time had come to take up this new evolutionary task, that of transforming or spiritualizing the human social sphere. This mighty impulse was given inspiration by the foundation stone meditation along with the daily rhythms as presented during the conference.

It was Rudolf Steiner’s hope that a “spiritual foundation stone of Love” would be laid in the etheric hearts of all people, providing a bridge between the macro & microcosmic streams in the world & in human beings striving to create a conscious Michaelic community.

This Sophia inspired Michaelic community can be seen as a vessel in which the Christ Being can unite with humanity. Rudolf Steiner created the Anthroposophical Society so that striving individuals can meet to continue this work of evolution. We get a foreshadowing of this through the Whitsun experience of the 1st apostles.